My Pretty Ballerina

I was just reminded of something that happened to me as a kid.  I just changed Katie's clothes into a cute little ballerina outfit, and it reminded me of a doll I wanted very badly as a kid. I don't remember how old I'd have been, but probably between eight and ten.  The doll was called My Pretty Ballerina. I can even sing the jingle for the commercial still.

The doll was fancy.  It was back when 'automated' dolls were new, so the fact that it could dance on its own with only minor work from the child was REALLY cool.  The commercial made it look like so much fun.  I remember the doll was being advertised very heavily all through November to get everyone excited to buy it for Christmas.  My birthday is in November, so this piqued my interest very intensely. I wanted this doll SO badly for my birthday.

There was one problem with me wanting this doll for my birthday.  I never told my parents I wanted it.  I wasn't one to play with dolls. In fact, the few dolls I did own went completely unused unless a friend came over who liked dolls. I just wasn't a doll person.  I have no idea how I thought my parents would figure out that I wanted this fancy (and probably very expensive) doll.  I'm not even sure I would have played with it, if I look at myself at that age closely.  But I wanted it so badly anyway.

My birthday rolled around.  I was so excited, hoping so badly I would unwrap a box with that doll.  If I remember correctly, I was actually expecting to get it, despite never having mentioned it once.  Of course I didn't get the doll.  I remember being so disappointed about what I did get (I still remember that it was lots of school supplies- stuff I'd have thought was way cool if I hadn't wanted the doll).  I had to pretend to be happy about it all. Of course, I got over it all quickly.  But I still hated that commercial when it came on because I hadn't gotten the doll for my birthday.

I have thought back on this experience several times since being married.  Every time I do, the first thing I smile about is the fact I truly expected to get the doll even though I never said a word about it...  I think we do that a lot of times.  We just assume people will know what we want and are disappointed when they don't.  The concept that people are not mind-readers often escapes us.  But we do this with the Lord as well.  We know He knows what we need, and we just expect Him to give it to us.  We forget we have to ask for certain things before He will bless us with it.  A testimony is one example of this.  We can hope for a testimony all we want, but if we never pray to find out if a certain thing is true, we will never be blessed with a confirmation that it is.

Just a thought.